New England Deaconess Hospital (NEDH) opened in 1896, rooted in the Methodist deaconess movement in Germany. Deaconesses are ordained religious women who participate in missionary work and care for the sick. The New England Home and Training School for deaconesses had opened in Boston in 1889, and the first superintendent, Mary E. Lunn, led the drive for an associated hospital that would allow for hospital-trained nurses to instruct students. The hospital opened in a converted brownstone, a comfortable, homelike environment intended to complement the deaconesses’ role in patient care. In 1898, the first class of three graduated from New England Deaconess Hospital’s nursing school. In 1899, non-deaconesses were allowed to attend, and by 1904 the course had increased to three years, including a probationary period.

In 1913 the NEDH School of Nursing (NEDH SON) became associated with Simmons College, which allowed nursing students to take science courses in addition to their hospital training. By 1922, the training school for deaconesses had merged with the Department of Religious Education at Boston University, leaving their facilities to the sole use of the expanding School of Nursing. Increased secularization, professionalization, and specialization in the medical field meant more women were becoming nurses rather than deaconesses, and NEDH began attracting specialists like Dr. Elliot P. Joslin, an authority on diabetes and one of the first to use insulin treatment. Despite the institution’s gradual move away from an overtly religious mission, non-Protestants were not widely admitted to the School of Nursing until 1951.

Nursing education shifted from diploma schools like the NEDH School of Nursing to college programs in the 1960s. In 1963, the School of Nursing ended its association with Simmons College and became affiliated with Northeastern University, providing students an opportunity to also receive bachelor’s degrees. It also became more common for students to attend Boston University. The federal Nurse Training Act of 1964 meant that diploma and collegiate schools of nursing were eligible for federal grants and student loans. Ellen D. Howland, director of the School of Nursing from 1956-1985, became an assistant director of NEDH in 1967, long before her peers in nursing were similarly valued.

Although the School of Nursing scored in the top rankings of diploma schools throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, the strong trend towards collegiate degrees in nursing education, combined with the hospital’s need for space, resulted in the decision in 1986 to close the School of Nursing. The last class entered in September 1986 and graduated in May 1989, after which the School of Nursing was officially closed.

Sources

Brauer, Carl M. New England Deaconess Hospital: A Century of Caring. Boston, Mass.: Deaconess Hospital, 1995.

“The History of BIDMC,” Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, accessed January 30, 2013, https://www.bidmc.org/research/research-by-department/medicine/translational-research/history